One would assume that an author from Belarus writing in Belarusian is the most normal thing. But the majority of people in Belarus speak Russian, not Belarusian, and it’s the Russian literature of Belarus that is supported by the official bodies while authors writing in Belarusian are strongly disadvantaged. Therefore they seek to strengthen cooperation with other countries in order to spread their literature. The more glad we are to present a new Belarusian poet on lyrikline.org.

Volha Hapeyeva was born in 1982 in Minsk. She is a poet and translates German literature into Belarusian. She studied Linguistics and Gender Studies and works at the University of Minsk where she researches on bodily self-mutilation and self-modification, and is also interested in the gender problem in culture and literature.